Mendoza says 23-year-old Anthony Ray Chapa was arrested Thursday on 12 counts of theft related to graves. Mendoza says a witness took down the license plate number of a car at the cemetery, leading to Chapa.
Chapa was freed after posting $40,000 bail. Mendoza told The Associated Press that he had no information on an attorney for Chapa.
The Alice Echo-News Journal reports investigators believe Chapa, since September, stole 72 brass and copper vases from 55 gravesites. Some vases sold for scrap metal for up to $200 apiece.
